Elementary
Kindergarten
To ensure a smooth transition into school, St. Mary’s offers a unique opportunity for children in Owatonna entering kindergarten. Students begin the year with a traditional half day program to ease their adjustment to a 5-day school week. Beginning with the second quarter in early November, a transition is made to full length school days. Our full-day program allows our kindergartners more time to develop the skills and experience they need to successfully advance on to elementary school.
St. Mary’s Kindergarten provides an atmosphere of emotional warmth, and sensitivity to the individuality of each child. This ensures that each child is recognized and develops to their full potential. We promote a child’s active participation in age appropriate and self-directed activities. Offering All-Day Kindergarten allows more time for the children to become involved, investigate, select, and persist at activities. Throughout our kindergarten program, faith is an instrumental proponent of the curriculum. We seek to develop the academic growth as well as the spiritual development of each child.
Grades 1 thru 5
St. Mary’s School provides young children with a foundation of learning that both nurtures and challenges them intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically, and spiritually. We believe in providing a quality learning experience in which children develop their intellectual pursuits, a healthy sense of self, and a desire to serve others.
Our teachers are not only highly qualified, licensed educators, but also extremely dedicated individuals who value children and model Christian values. Small class sizes ensure that teachers know students well and are committed to seeing each student grow academically, spiritually and socially. In addition to grade level teachers, St. Mary’s has teacher specialists in the areas of art, music, Spanish, physical education and library.
Catholic beliefs and values play an integral role at St. Mary’s. The school atmosphere is caring and nurturing and stresses respect for ourselves as well as others. Classroom prayer helps connect students and teachers to their shared faith and to one another. Weekly participation in liturgy and masses provides our students with opportunities for growth in their faith life and spirituality. In addition, sacramental preparation is the focus in second grade as students prepare for to receive Reconciliation and Eucharist in their home parishes.